Taps

Looking for new taps? Here at Plumbworld, we stock an excellent range of water taps for all needs. Whether you want to replace your old sink taps with an upgrade or are building a new bathroom suite from scratch, see our selection of styles for all budgets!

Shop the Best Range of Taps Online at Plumbworld!

With bathroom taps and kitchen taps both available, our huge selection is sure to cover what you want. With mixer taps, pillar taps, pull out spray kitchen taps, boiling water taps and much more all available online now, you can update your basin or bath with the best new water taps with our next day delivery!

Reviews

This tap is extremely useful for making quick drinks, defrosting frozen veg and quickly washing single items.
It arrived as expected well packed and in good condition. Installation is straightforward as a replacement for one that is faulty after years of use.
For a new installation all the associated items (heating tank, filter unit and pipes etc can be purchased together with the tap)

Here we’ve got our beginners list of things to consider when buying brassware whether it's being fitted within the kitchen or the bathroom. You’ll need to take into account the style of tap, the materials they’re made of and the finish that’s applied to them and of course the water pressure of your home.

Bathroom and kitchen taps generally work in the same way with just variations in the size and shape that make them different. Below we have a breakdown of the things you should know.

Styles of Taps

Pillar Taps

These are used when baths or basin have two holes, one for a hot tap and the other for cold. They’re most suitable for properties where water pressure is low and usually come with a number of different handle styles like cross-head, levers or knobs. Pillar taps aren’t a great choice for those with hand mobility problems.

Monobloc / Mixer Taps

Mixers do exactly as the name suggests, they mix the hot and cold water within the body of the tap. They’re available with twin or single handles depending on your preference and normally fit into just a single tap hole.

Filtered Taps

These are used more in the kitchen to provide filtered hot, cold and boiling water. They can be used for making cups of tea, preparing food and all the other usual applications of a kitchen tap.

Worktop / Floor Standing Taps

These are generally used in the kitchen with undermount sinks or in the bathroom with freestanding baths. Obviously the designs are slightly different in that the freestanding bath taps are much taller.

Materials & Finish

Choosing the right material and finish for your new taps can be a tricky business, especially when you need to take into consideration not just your personal tastes but the overall look when compared with the rest of the room. Let's face it you don't want something that feels or looks cheap.

The majority are engineered from solid brass because it’s just so durable and weighty for a real feel of quality. Now this would be a funny look in some bathrooms so they’re usually finished off in a polished chrome or silksteel in most cases. You can also get them in nickel and gold too but they’re not quite as popular.

The biggest advantage to using high-quality materials like this is their ease of cleaning. A warm solution of soapy water and a soft cloth is usually all you need to bring out that gorgeous shine time and time again. Just remember not to use anything abrasive or any harsh chemicals because they will ruin the finish of your taps no matter their age.

The Inner Workings of Taps

Here in the UK we know that the bodies are made of brass in most cases but what else goes on in inside our faithful taps? Well both a hot and cold feed is provided which gives us either hot, col or mixed water but the flow is controlled using either washers or a more modern, and more reliable, ceramic disc or cartridge. Ceramic internals will always outlast the older style washers so bear this in mind if you’re looking to spend a lot on your bathroom.

Understanding Water Pressure

Before installing taps it’s always a good idea to check what your homes water pressure is like otherwise your new basin or bath mixer might seem a little underwhelming. Now don’t throw in the towel at this news as there’s a pretty easy way to check what your water pressure is. All you need is a stop watch, available on most smart phones, and a 1 litre measuring jug.

Firstly you need to make sure any appliances that use water like the dishwasher or washing machine are turned off along with any taps elsewhere in the house.

Then put the cold side of your kitchen mixer tap on full blast and see how long it takes to fill the jug.

If it takes longer than 7 seconds then chances are you’ve got low water pressure.

Now we move onto a more in depth look at kitchen mixer taps and the differences between each model. They are a hugely important part of any UK kitchen, being used day in and day out, year after year. They’re a lot more than just hot and cold water too with filtered, boiling hot or steaming water available in some too!

Firstly we would always recommend checking your water pressure like we have explained above. Getting the right tap for your pressure will be the difference between washing up heaven and washing up hell, you really could do without an underperforming tap!

Contemporary or Traditional?

Like any room in your home your kitchen will normally have either a contemporary or traditional vibe and most suppliers, including us, will have taps to suit.

Contemporary Kitchen Taps

Contemporary taps will feature either rounded or square designs with a chrome or coloured finish (black and white being surprisingly popular!). They will also have the option of either twin levers or a single lever for controlling the temperature and flow. They’re a perfect match for most sinks, in particular stainless steel or granite.

Traditional taps tend to have more over the top styling with white ceramic indices and silver, brass or gold finishes. They do usually have twin levers to complete the classical look and they look great with ceramic sinks, in particular Belfast sinks.

Matching Your Tap to Your Sink

It’s important that you don’t just think about design and style but the practicality of your new tap with your existing sink or your new sink.

Start by looking at how the tap is mounted.

Does it use a single tap hole? If the answer is yes then you need a mixer tap.

Does it use two tap holes? If the answer is yes then you need either pillar taps or a deck / bridge mixer.

Does it need to be mounted to the worktop? For this installation type you can use almost any tap you’d like. You just need to ensure the right sized hole is drilled into your worktop to accommodate and that the spout will have enough clearance to easily reach the bowl or bowls.

Spout Reach

When you’ve established the mounting of the tap you also need to consider the reach that the spout will have. You’ve got to ensure it will provide enough depth to be positioned over the bowl and also any other bowls you might have if it’s a multiple bowl sink.

Tap Movement

Lastly you need to take into account the movement of your tap. Spouts generally rotate to allow you to wash up more easily or reach more than one bowl. You can also get kitchen taps with pull-out spouts or even an optional spray which is mounted to the worktop.

Bathroom Taps

With bathroom taps you do need to make a lot of the same decisions as you would for kitchen taps. What’s your water pressure like? Do they need to be contemporary or traditional? Will it be compatible with your sink? Is the spout the right size and shape to work efficiently with your sink? However there are a few other things to take into account when buying new bathroom taps.

Types of Bathroom Taps

You might be surprised to hear that there are actually more types of bathroom tap than there are kitchen tap. Below we have broken down the different variations so you’ll know which are most suitable for you. All types of bathroom taps are available in contemporary or tradition designs just like kitchen taps.

Mono basin mixers or Monobloc mixers are the most common type of tap used for bathroom sinks. They mount using just a single tap hole and mix water inside the tap bodies. These types of taps are controlled using either a single or twin levers, allowing optimal control over the temperature and flow of the water coming out the spout.

Pillar Taps

Pillar taps use a separate hot and cold taps which are in turn controlled using individual levers. The flow is controlled by the levers but the finally temperature is achieved by mixing both supplies in your sink or bath.

Bath mixers and bath shower mixers generally use two tap holes for installation. These can sometimes be mounted in different places with a shower bath providing the most flexibility. A bath shower mixer will have the addition of a shower head and mount, with a diverter to swap between filling the bath and using the shower head.

These are surprisingly uncommon due to basins normally having only one or two tap holes. Normally they feature one spout with two separate controls for hot and cold water. They can be used for deck mounting on a bath or for fitting to a worktop by your sink.

Tall Basin Mixers

These work in exactly the same way as a monobloc mixer tap, the only difference being that they’re taller for use with countertop sinks.

Small Monobloc or Cloakroom Mixer Taps

You can also get specially designed monobloc mixer taps for cloakroom sinks and small sinks. They function in the same way as a standard monobloc mixer.

Wall Mounted Taps

Now for something a bit special you could decide to wall mount your taps. They’re usually available in either a 2 or 3 hole design and can be used with sinks or baths. They provide a clean look and more space around the edge of your basin or rim of your bath.

Freestanding Bath Taps

Now you don’t get much classier that a freestanding bath and a tall bath mixer tap to match! They provide a serious focal point in any bathroom but beware you’re going to need a fair amount of space.